16 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER
September 2019
sion is to have all children have a
forever family. Boys and Girls Aid focuses on keeping siblings togeth-
er, whenever possible. Sibling sepa- ration can lead to lifelong guilt for
the older and chronic insecurity for
the younger. I lived it. The staff at
Boys and Girls Aid understand.
The Cypress Branch volunteers of
Boys and Girls Aid choose to make a
difference in children’s lives and that
is why I joined them, although I do not
reside in Charbonneau. Joining gave
me a clearer idea about the group and
the various resources made available
to our youth. This organization pass-
es it forward and deserves increased
community support.
To learn more about our pro-
grams, come to our next luncheon at
SpringRidge, Sept. 20. Cost of the
luncheon is $15 at the door. Come to
find out what is going on and what
is new. Visitors and guests are
welcome! For more information,
go to www.boysandgirlsaid.org
or www.cypressonline.org.
ding event where almost everyone in
attendance left the Country Club
without cleaning. The only person re-
maining was the bride.
“I said, ‘Sweetheart no, in your wed-
ding dress you are not going to vacu-
um,’” McMichael recalled. “So I came
in and I just let her get her stuff and
go, and I came in and told my boss on
Monday. I said, ‘I was not about to
make that little girl vacuum this place
in her wedding gown.’”
If people fail to clean, they will lose
their deposit and be charged a clean-
ing fee, though that was not the case
for that bride.
Ricken remembers an event where
people decorated a room with about
100 balloons. When everyone left,
there were still about 50 balloons that needed to be popped.
Both McMichael and Dawson have
dealt with folks still being in the rest-
room when they’ve locked up and set
the alarm. Now they check to make
sure everyone has emptied the bath-
rooms.
Aside from humorous or challenging
events, the team has witnessed beauti-
ful gatherings. Dawson recalls a wed-
ding that was decorated with trellises
filled with flowering vines. She said it
was casual but sweet.
When the trio isn’t working, Ricken
enjoys playing golf as part of the Men’s
Club and cards; Dawson enjoys volun-
teering for local organizations includ-
ing Red Cross, World of Speed and the
Wilsonville Public Library and McMi-
chael is heavily involved with the charity Boys and Girl’s Aid.
If anyone is interested in becoming a
monitor, visit Kim Hosford in the
Country Club office. McMichael said
three is usually enough people but if
unforeseen circumstances occur, she
said it’s valuable to have people who
would be willing to work.
“I’m almost 80; I could die tomorrow.
One of the gals (a prior monitor) that
was here moved to Arizona (and) the
other gal moved to Southern California
(because) her husband had died and
she was going to go live with her sis-
ter,” McMichael said. “Things happen
in peoples’ lives and you just never
know. Kim never knows so it’s nice for
her to have somebody ... she could call
and say, ‘Do you still want to come to
work? We could use you.’”
Boys and
Girls Aid
By ZOE NIKLAS
The tall policeman told me that
my sissy was going to live some-
where else called a foster home.
They took my sister away and I was
left alone with my mama.
Mama was sick. My world turned to
black and white with shades of
grey. There was no color, as there
was no one to help me.
This memory flashed through my
mind as I read the Boys and Girls
Aid newsletter, Connect. Suzan
Huntington’s haunting article on the
trauma of sibling separation, spoke
to my soul. There are more than
8,000 children in Oregon’s foster
care system. Ms. Huntington’s mis-
Clubhouse
■ From Page 15
duration of the entire event if there
are non-Charbonneau residents in-
volved, the trio will split up shifts if
they run longer than six to eight
hours.
“It gets really boring when you’re
here for that long,” McMichael said.
Dawson added that she usually
reads a book, a newspaper or helps out
with other tasks.
During their time as monitors, the
team has had moments that have stuck
out them.
McMichael remembered one wed-
COURTESY PHOTO
Suzan Huntington wrote an article on the trauma of sibling separation.
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